MKTG 201 First Semester, 2010 Feedback for Test One.
How did I do?
On Cecil, look under Marks and Activities for the Term Test tab. There are TWO marks – the
Essay mark (out of 10) and your MQC mark (out of 40). Add these together to obtain your total mark (out of 50).
Since the test is out of 50, simply multiple your total mark by 2 to get your percentage mark. Refer to the grade scale below to see what grade you earned with that mark.
GRADE DESCRIPTION
A+
A
Outstanding
Excellent
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
Approaching Excellence
Very good, comfortably meeting expectations
Good, meets expectations
Good, just meets expectations but minor problems
Adequate, almost meeting expectations but minor problems
Adequate, not quite meeting expectations because of problems
%
90-100
85-89
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
C-
D+
D
D-
Just adequate, not quite meeting expectations because of further problems
Inadequate, further problems and below expectations
50-54
45-49
Inadequate, well below expectations because of minor problems 40-44
Completely inadequate, well below expectations because of major problems 0-39
How did the CLASS do?
The class did well! Marks ranged from 30% to 95% (wow!) and the average mark was 77%
- which is a solid B+ (which means “very good, comfortably meeting expectations”). Sixteen students achieved A plus in the test. 372 students took the test. Of these, 40% achieved a total mark in the A range, 43% achieved a total mark in the B range, 16% achieved a total mark in the C range, and less than 1% (2 students) failed.
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How can I get my test script back?
You can pick up your test scripts from:
 Karen Fernandez in her office, OGGB 417, on Friday, April 9 between 12-1
 Karen Fernandez in her office, OGGB 417 on Wednesday, April 14, between 12-1.
 Your tutor, at the end of your Monday April 19 and Tuesday April 20 tutorials.
 Karen Fernandez, at the end of Week 6’s lecture on Wed April 21.
 Any remaining unclaimed scripts will be available for pickup in the Student
Assignment Centre, Level 0, OGGB by 11am, Thursday April 22.
Please do not ask someone else to pick up your test because privacy laws do not allow us to give your test to someone else.
What were the correct answers?
At the end of this document is an explanation of the correct answer to each multiple choice question, and details of what were required for the essay questions. Please read this information carefully to understand what was required.
What if I truly think there was a mistake- I either don’t agree with a MCQ answer or I think my essay deserves a higher mark?
1.
Read the explanation at the end of this document to understand my reasoning for that MCQ or essay. For essays, please also read the “model” answers. Refer to the text pages or lecture slides that are referenced.
2.
Type out an explanation of why you think the MCQ was wrong or the essay deserves a higher mark. Be sure to note the MCQ number e.g. Q19, or indicate which essay
(Aroha or Ben) as required. Please attach this typed page to your answer script
(IMPORTANT even for MCQ, because MCQ were randomised across versions so
Karen will need to look up YOUR Q19 to see which you are referring to).
3.
Hand this in to Karen by the end of Wed, April 26. (Sandy will remind you to hand these in during her lecture that day, or you can give them to Karen or your tutor personally.)
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2.
Multiple Choice Answers
1.
Because Tom does not have a pet, he never goes down the pet food aisle in the supermarket. Tom is practising?
1.
Stimulus discrimination
2.
Stimulus comprehension
3.
Selective exposure
4.
Selective retention
5.
Selective comprehension
Selective exposure occurs when people pay expose themselves to stimuli (e.g. advertisements and products) that are consistent with their attitudes and needs, and when people choose not to expose themselves to stimuli that they are not interested in, do not need, or are not consistent with their attitudes. This is discussed briefly on p.124 of the text, and I discussed it in Slide 8 of your Lecture 4 outline. I defined it on your slide as
Selective exposure: choosing to expose ourselves to, or to avoid stimuli.
When Tom avoided the petfood products, he was practicing selective exposure. This was one of the two examples that I used in lectures, to illustrate selective exposure.
Detailed operational decisions that are made, to implement marketing programmes on a daily basis are called:
1.
Marketing mixes
2.
Marketing tactics
3.
4.
Marketing plans
Marketing tools
5.
Market strategies
Marketing tactics are defined on p.49 of your text as the “detailed day to day operational decisions essential to the overall success of marketing strategies. In Slide 3 of Week 2’s lecture, the term marketing tactics was explained as “in detailed terms, how will we get the job done?” where “the job” referred to the strategy chosen. I used the example of a marketing goal as “increased sales”, a strategy of “lowering prices” and a tactic of “today, we will lower all prices of our products by 20%” to illustrate the differences between objectives, strategies and tactics.
3.
The statement “we are in the business of satisfying needs and wants of consumers” is a statement that exemplifies what has come to be known as the?
1.
Hard-sell strategy
2.
Marketing concept
3.
Soft-sell strategy
4.
Marketing mix
5.
Diversification
The marketing concept is defined on p.18 of your text as “the idea that that firm should 1) satisfy the needs of consumers 2) while also trying to achieve the organisation’s goals”.
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4.
The University of Auckland Business School only offers a full time Bachelor of Commerce programme. If they added a Bachelor of Tourism degree aimed at their existing type of students, they would be using the Ansoff’s growth strategy known as:
1.
Market Penetration
2.
Product Development
3.
Market Synergy
4.
Market Development
5.
Diversification
Here, UABS is ADDING a degree, so they are offering a NEW product. They are aiming at their existing type of students, so they are marketing to their CURRENT market. They are trying to increase sales by engaging in PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (defined on p.582 of your text as selling new products to existing markets. This was also discussed in Week 2 Slide 11 and there was a reading on Ansoff’s Growth Strategies available on the website.
5.
When Anna needed to buy some paper for her printer, she remembered that she had previously found excellent printer paper at reasonable prices at Warehouse Stationary and Whitcoulls. What term best describes the information-search method used by Anna?
1.
Market-dominated external source
2.
Internal search
3.
Public external source
4.
Personal external source
5.
Market-dominated internal source
I accidentally made this question too easy because only one alternative used the word
“search” and the question asked for “type of search”. Your text defines internal search on p.
116 as “scanning your memory for previous experiences with products and brands.”
6.
Suppose that eGo Bikes, the American makers of the electric bicycle, have devised a system where they do not keep most parts in stock. Instead, when a bicycle is ordered, their online system automatically orders the parts they need from their supplier. eGo
Bikes consider this to be their sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). This SCA is based on
1.
Distribution dominance
2.
Minimal inventory
3.
4.
Value for money
Technical Capability
5.
Loyal Customer Base
Examples of SCAs were listed on slide 11 of Week 2’s lecture handout. The first one, minimal inventory, was explained to use as keeping very little raw material on hand, and instead, ordering them as needed to reduce storage and inventory costs. The example I gave you in lectures, was that of Dell Computers, who hold very few parts in stock, instead their computerised system orders the parts they need from their suppliers, as soon as a customer orders a specific computer.
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7.
Michelin has an advertising campaign that advises consumers to choose good quality tyres because the safety of the car’s occupants depend heavily on having good tyres.
Michelin is trying to increase a consumer’s perception of _________________ when they engage in problem solving for new tyres.
1.
Financial risk
2.
Comparison attributes
3.
Critical determinants
4.
Performance risk
5.
Social risk
Performance risk depends on perceiving that performance of the product can have serious consequences. Michelin is trying to make consumers understand that if their tyres do not perform adequately, the consequences (danger to the car’s occupants) will be serious. This was the exact example I used in lectures, to illustrate performance risk. See Slide 20 of your Week 3 handout, and also see the more general discussion on p.125 of your text.
8.
Which of the following statements about the marketing strategy process is FALSE?
1.
Situation analysis takes place in the planning phase
2.
The outcome of the implementation phase is a set of actual results
3.
The control phase involes comparing actual results to planned outcomes
4.
Management should only be concerned when actual results are less positive then planned outcomes because these represent problems
A set of detailed plans become the input for the implementation phase. 5.
These statements relate to the comments I made when explaining slide 2 of Week 2’s handout. All but #4 are correct and were statements I made. These statements can also be found throughout Chapter 2 of your text. However, Statement 4 is incorrect because of the word “only”. In fact, as I told you, and as stated on p.50 of your text, positive deviations
(doing better than expected) should also be investigated, because these may represent opportunities to be exploited.
9.
In the 19 th century railroads may have let other forms of transportation take business away from them because their definition included only the railroad business, rather than the broader definition of
1.
2.
transportation. mail delivery.
3.
entertainment.
4.
services.
5.
Wholesaling
An organisation’s mission is described on p.32 of your text. When I explained misson, on
Slide 3 of Week 2’s lecture, I used the example of how the railroads had to redefine their mission to “transportation” so that they could then get involved in commuter transportation, subways, buses etc.
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10. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
1.
If involvement is very low for a product purchase, consumers are likely to use limited problem solving.
2.
Products that are bought very often are often purchased using routine problem solving.
3.
Products that are seldom purchased are usually purchased using intensive problem solving
If consumers have little knowledge about a product, they are likely to use intensive 4.
problem solving
5.
Once a consumer has decided to make a particular purchase, the purchase decision process is considered to be completed.
See Slides 22-24 of Week 3 lecture handout, and also Fig 5.3 on p.120 of the text. All of the above statements are incorrect in some way, except statement 2.
Statement 1 should be routine problem solving instead of limited
Statements 3 & 4 should be extended problem solving (I told you exact names of the three variations were important)
Statement 5 refers to something I told you in class- for the fourth stage of the purchase decision process- purchase is not completed once a decision has been made, because unavailability of the product etc can prevent the decision from being carried out.
11. The __________ element of the 4 “P”s or marketing mix includes outlets, channels, coverage, transportation, and stock level.
1. product
2.
pricing
3.
promotion
4.
place
5.
process
Your text defines place as “a means of getting the product to the consumer” on p.13. The concepts of outlets channels, coverage, transportation and stock level may not all be familiar to you yet, but transportation is clearly about getting products to consumers. The
Post-it Flag example also describes how these concepts e.g. outlets and channels, are critical to the place aspect of the marking mix.
12. When Jill said, “It's really hard for me to get to lectures on time without a car,” she was
entering which stage of the consumer decision process?
1.
purchase decision
2.
alternative evaluation
3.
information search
4.
problem recognition
5.
postpurchase behavior
Your text explains the first stage of the purchase decision process, problem recognition, as perceiving a difference between the person’s actual and ideal situation. My lecture (slide 11 of the week 3 handout) added that this difference has to be significant enough to trigger action. In this example, Jill’s ideal situation was arriving at her lectures on time, but her actual situation was that she was having difficulty arriving on time. Hence, she perceived a
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different between her actual and ideal situations, and recognised that she had a problem that owning a car might solve.
13. Ripoff CarCo is a well-known seller of used cars in SmallTown. They have been quite successful selling family cars to the residents of SmallTown. If they want to sell the same type of family cars to the residents of nearby BigTown, they would be following
Ansoff’s Growth Strategy known as?
1.
Market Synergy
2.
Product Development
3.
Diversification
4.
Market Penetration
5.
Market Development
Here, the Ripoff CarCo is selling the same type of car, so they are selling the current product, rather than adding a new product. They are aiming at a different set of people, so they are marketing to a NEW market. They are trying to increase sales by engaging in
MARKET DEVELOPMENT (defined on p.582 of your text as selling existing products to new markets. This was also discussed in Week 2 Slide 11 and there was a reading on Ansoff’s
Growth Strategies available on the website.
14. The question “How long is the warranty for this laptop computer?” would be asked during the _______ stage in the consumer purchase decision process?
1.
Comparison Stage
2.
Purchase Decision
3.
Alternative Evaluation
4.
Problem Recognition
5.
Information Search
Questions about product attributes, such as warranties, are usually asked during the information search stage. This information about each alternative is used in a later stage, the alternative evaluation stage, to compare the options. See p.116 of your text for a discussion of information search.
15. Kahu wants to find the perfect gift for her grandparents' 50 needed to find a gift they both will like. Kahu is engaging in: th wedding anniversary. She started looking for the gift last month and expects to spend another couple of months if
1.
Integrated problem solving.
2.
limited problem solving.
3.
extended problem solving.
4.
Intensive problem solving
5.
Routine problem solving.
In this example, it is evident that Kahu is very concerned about finding the perfect gift and is willing to put in a lot of effort to find it. She appears to have high involvement, and appears to be engaging in extended problem solving. Extended problem solving makes use of each stage of the consumer purchase decision process including considerable time and effort on external information search and in identifying and evaluating alternatives. See p.120 of the text, and Slide 25 of Week 3’s lecture handout, to learn more about extended problem solving.
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16. The difference between the projection of the path to reach a new goal, and the projection of the path of the results of a plan already in place is called?
1. Differential location
2. The contribution margin
3. The marginal space
4. The planning gap
5. The breakeven point
Your text discusses the planning gap and depicts it in Figure 2-3 on p.50. It is also in slide 5 of your week 2 lecture handout.
17. The element of the marketing mix demonstrated when a company places an ad in the
Yellow Pages is?
1. Price
2. Place
3. Promotion
4. Process
5. Product
Promotion is defined on p.13 of your text as “a means of communication between the buyer and the seller”. The marketing programme for the Post-it Flag Highlighter on p.17 mentions tv and other advertising, as examples of promotion.
18. The key steps of planning, implementation, and evaluation are part of what is called?
1. The developmental market analysis
2. The strategic marketing process
3. Gap analysis
4. The situational marketing process
5. The market determinant method
On p.44, the text explains that the strategic marketing process consists of the key steps of planning, implantation and evaluation, and depicts this in Fig 2-5 (on p.43). In lectures, I talked about the evaluation stage using the accounting term of “control” to describe how marketers, like auditors, must compare planned outcomes to actual results, to evaluate their performance.
19. The set of values, ideas and attitudes that are learned and shared among the members of a group is known as?
1. Culture
2. Social Class
3. National character
4. A code of ethics
5. Ideals
This definition of culture can be found on p.135 of your text. We discussed culture on Slide
11 of your Week 3 lecture handout.
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20. The group of brands a consumer would consider acceptable from among all the brands in a product class of which he or she is aware is the?
1. Evolved set
2. Aspiration group
3. Evaluative set
4. Alternative selection group
5. Consideration set
Your text defines a consumer’s consideration set as consisting of brands in the product class that a consumer 1) is aware of and 2) finds acceptable.
Essay Option A:
Aroha and her partner are busy business executives. She is about to host her first dinner party for her boss and the other important people in her firm.
Identify and briefly describe the type of consumer decision-making process she will probably follow when she chooses a business to provide the food for the dinner. Give reasons for your answer.
This question expected you to use your knowledge of Consumer Behaviour, from Week 3’s lecture, Week 3’s tutorial, and Chapter 5 of the textbook. There was two parts to the question.
Part 1. Identify and briefly describe the TYPE of consumer decision-making process: 50% of the marks
(i) I expected you to correctly identify the type of consumer decision making process. In class, we talked about how there is a general, five stage process, and then three types or variations of that process, depending on the level of involvement: routine, limited, and extended.
The question clearly implies that this is an important decision for Aroha. However, it would also be reasonable to assume that she is not short of money (she and her partner are both business executives) but she is short of time (she and her partner are busy). So the best e option is LIMITED problem solving. This exact combination of circumstances (high involvement decision but lack of time) was implied in the review example where the Uni student had to buy a laptop to take overseas in two days- you all agreed there that the correct answer in that case was Limited Problem solving.
(If you chose EXTENDED problem solving – you could get part or even all the marks for choosing this option but I would expect you to have justified it extremely well)
(ii) I then expected you to briefly describe the TYPE of consumer decision-making process.
Here, I was expecting you to describe limited problem solving. In particular, I was expecting to see ideas like:
– Unwilling or unable to spend more than limited time and effort
– Aroha will use shortcuts or recommendations
– Aroha might engage in the entire decision making process but will spend very
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limited time on the information search and analysis stages.
Naturally, if you chose extended problem solving for part 1(i) above, then I would expect you to briefly describe extended problem solving here, and would give you all the marks for doing so, if you did it correctly. Note however, you were only asked to describe the type of problem solving BRIEFLY. We didn’t deduct marks from students who correctly and comprehensively explained the entire extended problem solving process, but many of these students spent all their time and the available space doing this, and so missed answering
Part 2 (which was worth half the marks).
Part 2. Give reasons for your answer – about 50% of the mark
As I pre-warned you, the REASONS or JUSTIFICATION of your answer is more important than the actual answer. You will note I asked for REASONS so I was expecting more than a single reason. Here, I was expecting you to talk about the types of perceived risk and the level of involvement. In particular, I was hoping to see that you understood that level of perceived social, financial and performance risk leads to level of involvement leads to type of problem solving.
Perceived risk: Here, I was expecting you to define perceived risk, and also to correctly name, and define each of the three types of perceived risk we discussed in Week 3’s lecture.
– Perceived risk is the amount of uncertainty perceived by consumers, can influence how much effort they are willing to undertake when making a
– purchase decision.
Perceived social risk, the risk of embarrassment, would be high, because Aroha is entertaining important work bosses for the first time.
Perceived performance risk, the consequences of poor performance, – are moderate to high, because if the food is poor quality e.g. presently badly, or causes food poisoning, Aroha’s bosses may get offended/sick and have a poor opinion of Aroha.
Perceived financial risk, the cost compared to resources, is – moderate, because Aroha as a business executive probably has a decent salary, but catering is still not cheap so there is some risk.
Based on this discussion of risk, it is reasonable to assume that Aroha has a high level of
involvement, which is the perceived relevance or importance of a decision. (1) However, since she is busy, she lacks time to engage in extended problem solving and is likely to engage in limited problem solving
Common Problems:
Some students simply reproduced their lecture slides/notes on all five stages of the consumer decision making process (problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision & postpurchase behaviour) without reference to question example.
Some students wrote about the concepts but didn’t not relate their discussion to Aroha’s decision. Even worse, some students wrote about other examples that we discussed in class, but not Aroha’s situation.
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Essay Option B
2. Ben was studying for a test late one night and wanted a energy drink. He normally buys energy drinks at the supermarket 5km away, but it was already closed. Ben went to the nearby petrol station (which was still open) to buy one. He came home very annoyed because he had to pay $2 for one drink, compared to the $5 for a four-pack that the supermarket charged. He said, “luckily they accepted credit cards, because I didn’t have enough cash with me!”.
Define utility and use your knowledge of this concept to explain to Ben why it is reasonable for the petrol station to charge more (than the supermarket) for the single energy drink.
This question expected to use your knowledge of Utility, from Week 1’s lecture and Chapter
1 of the text (p.22) and had had two main parts.
Part 1. I expected you to define utility – the benefits or value that customers get from a product. Somewhere in your answer, either in this part, or the next part, I also expected you to identify and briefly explain the four types of utility that we discussed/the book talked about. I allocated 50% of the marks for explaining utility in general, and the four types of utility. Of course, the best answers related their discussion to Ben’s situation.
In this case, the petrol station provided
1) Time utility (giving Ben the drink WHEN he wanted it- by opening late
2) Place utility (giving Ben the drink WHERE he wanted it – by locating closer/ more conveniently than the supermarket
3) Possession utility (helping Ben POSSESS the drink, by taking credit cards)
4) Form utility (giving it to Ben the WAY he wanted it, by selling him a single can instead of a four-pack)
Part 2. I allocated the remaining 50% for your explanation of why it was reasonable for the petrol station to charge more for the drink. The most important reason the petrol station could charge more was because it offered Ben greater utility than the supermarket. The petrol station offered greater time utility by opening later than the supermarket. The petrol station offered greater place utility by being located closer than the supermarket. Some students also recognised that the petrol station offered greater form utility because he could purchase a single drink instead of having to purchase a four-pack- but the question does not say the supermarket does not offer single drinks for sale. Any discussion of this issue was marked according to what assumptions you appeared to have made. Some students also thought the petrol station offered greater possession utility than the supermarket because it accepted credit cards, but again, the question did not say that the supermarket did not accept credit cards. The two main reasons for the greater utility offered, and justification for the higher price charge are: greater time utility and greater place utility.
Common Problems
Either using incorrect terms e.g. talking about product utility or mixing up the definitions of the terms e.g. explaining that the petrol station offered place utility by opening later than the supermarket.
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